Event

Last Elephants in ThailandDr. Donald Tayloe Producer40 minutes* New York City Premiere** Award Winner for Best Human & Nature Category

At the turn of the 20th Century, there were 100,000 elephants in Thailand. Today there are less than 4,000. Where are they going? Who is working to save them and what can you do to help? This film visits the world's first elephant hospital and meets leading experts to discover why the country's most revered species is fast disappearing.

Dr. Magda studied the Asian elephant in Thailand and India. She assisted the veterinarians at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, tending to wounds caused by their keepers (mahouts) and poachers. Her research in Southeast Asia focused on the relationship between various saddle materials and the injuries associated with them.

Dr. Magda practices emergency and exotic medicine at the East End Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center in Riverhead, New York and is the Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation Film Festivals.

For many years the area of Kaziranga has been isolated and entry to anyone from outside the region has been strictly regulated. Much of the pristine wilderness has disappeared, but small isolated pockets still exist. These hidden ecosystems are the focus of this film. Kaziranga is a floodplain and grassland along the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra River with healthy rhino, tiger populations and other wildlife.

The Orphaned OrangutanAquila Films & Parthenon Entertainment30 minutesCountry: Indonesia* New York City Premiere

On the island of Borneo in Indonesia there is an orphanage with a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. This is no ordinary orphanage, one not for human children but for one of the rare members of the Great Apes. Here Orangutan orphans who have lost their mothers due to deforestation, poaching or the illegal pet trade are brought to be nursed back to health and one day be returned home to the wild. There is one big problem, there home is fast disappearing.

In the 80s and 90s more timber was removed from Borneo than from all of Africa and South America combined. This tragic loss of habitat, with it's attendant loss of wildlife, has gone largely unrecognized in the United States. In 1991, we started the Borneo Project to draw attention to the forgotten rainforest, and to help the indigenous peoples who have been fighting to keep their forest home. This film explores the remarkable collaboration between indigenous peoples and a group of dedicated volunteers, both committed to keep the forest standing and to protect their ancestral way of life.